


Respawn

by CookiesVersusCream



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, ep 57 spoilers, thats right this is the first fanfic that features barry as an actual character, this plot twist broke me guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9917888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookiesVersusCream/pseuds/CookiesVersusCream
Summary: So I was in the shower and thought, "Hey, what would have happened to you-know-who after the destruction of Phandalin?" This fanfic is the result. MAJOR spoilers for episode 57.





	

The first thing he realizes is that he had died.

Well, okay, maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The entire city of Phandalin was destroyed, and he was standing right next to what – no, who – no, not who, Gundren Rockseeker was a racist bastard but Barry wouldn’t say it was completely his fault – was responsible for said destruction. What, he decided to stick with. What.

The second thing he realizes is that he is having these thoughts. This realization doesn’t mean much on its own. After all, having thoughts is a thing that sentient beings do on a daily basis. However, it does directly contradict with the fact that he died. Don’t get him wrong, he knows about the Astral Plane and its ocean of memories, but that’s not where he currently is. He is currently in Phandalin (or rather, what remains of it), and he is having these thoughts, and he died.

These thoughts swirl in his brain for some time, until he finally comes to the conclusion that he is undead. That would explain how he had died but hadn’t gone to the Astral Plane. But while this realization satisfied his initial confusion, it isn’t without its own slew of questions and implications. How did he become undead? He was a fighter, not a magic-user. Or is? Whatever the state of his aliveness may be, the idea that he is undead resonates with him. It feels… right. But why? As he mulls over these new thoughts and questions, the first memory returns to him.

No, “return” isn’t really the right word – the memory never left him in the first place. It’s like there was a sheet put over part of his psyche, and it somehow had been removed now that he is undead. But in the moment, he isn’t particularly concerned with this detail. Rather, he is reeling back and clutching at where his heart would be, if he still had one.

There is a silver ship. It is going in the opposite direction of him – leaving, he knows, though he isn’t quite sure how he knows this. Standing next to him is another man who is wearing a red jacket with a circular symbol sewn onto the chest. Both of them have their backs pressed against a cliff. Barry himself knows that he is wearing a red robe with the same symbol, but this isn’t exactly relevant to what’s happening in the memory. Between the men and the ship, what the ship is fleeing from, is an army of shadows. Pillars of darkness jut out of the inky black sky and crash into the ground. The Hunger. The Hunger That Consumes All Things. This name resonates with him in the same way that the idea of him being undead did. It’s perplexing, for sure, but on a deeper level he feels a sense of clarity.

“Well, we’ll get them next time.” These words leave his own mouth as he smiles at the other man and the life leaves his body. A spike of darkness had protruded from the horde of shadows, stabbing him directly through the chest.

But… that’s not how he died. He had literally just died. The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet created an explosion of fire that had incinerated his body as well as everything else within half-mile diameter. The sky had gone red, not black. Unless…

This wasn’t the first time he died. With the same sense of bewilderment and assuredness that he felt during the memory, he is aware that this wasn’t even close to the first time he died. All of them, everyone who had worn (wears? Will wear?) red had died, over and over again. And will continue to do so, until the IPRE’s goal is achieved. He goes over the numbers in his head: Taako Taaco, eight. Merle Highchurch, fifty-seven. Magnus Burnsides…. 

He stops at that name and thinks back to the memory. That other man who was with him, the one wearing the red jacket, that was him, wasn’t it? In fact, he remembers encountering the three of them earlier that day, before he had “died.” They had rescued him from that cave with Yeemik and the other goblins. The first thing that comes to his mind after this realization is, Good. They found each other. He isn’t quite sure as to why this thought is so reassuring, but by now he has realized that these unexplained emotions will be something he’ll have to deal with for a while.

Another thought regarding Magnus and the other two strikes him, and this time it isn’t so comforting. The three of them were in Phandalin when the explosion happened. To have them die so soon, before they could gather any valuable intellect about the Material Plane or when The Hunger might arrive… well, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but an inconvenience nonetheless. He would need to regenerate new bodies for them, which in itself would take months. And then getting them to meet again in their new bodies would be a hassle and require a healthy dose of chance. As this train of thought continues, his metaphorical stomach sinks.

Then he hears a noise, about fifty feet away. It comes from the well, and when he sees what’s making it, he would cry from joy if he had tear ducts. Magnus emerges from the well and drops a rope into it. A minute or so later, Merle and Taako appear. When the three of them pull the rope out of the well, he notices that there is an unconscious orc woman tied to the end of it. He’s a bit confused, but ultimately relieved to see that someone else survived the explosion. 

The boys talk for a little while, then Taako goes to retrieve the gauntlet. He must have noticed the thrall, because he stops before he can pick it up and consults with the other two. Magnus checks the orc woman’s body to see if she has anything to contain it. When he rolls up her sleeve, his metaphorical heart stops. He sees the metal bracer on her arm. He tries to tell himself that it’s just a coincidence, that the fact that she’s wearing a bracer doesn’t mean anything, but once he sees that it’s engraved with the two intersecting triangles that make up the BoB’s insignia, he can’t deny it any longer. At the very least, he thinks to himself, she can’t do much while she’s unconscious.

Merle eventually casts a healing spell on her. While that does make Barry a bit anxious, Magnus does have the foresight to take her crossbow and tie her hands and feet together beforehand. And he can’t doubt that she will give the boys some answers they need, even if there will be some misinformation along with those answers. Oh well, he figures, it’s nothing he can’t correct.

After she wakes up, they quarrel for a little bit, and she explains her situation to them to the best of her ability. He notices the confused expression on their faces whenever she tries to convey information that had been voided. The fact that the the BoB, out of all people, had managed to get their hands on a Voidfish makes his (metaphorical) blood boil. And the one Magnus saved too! He could practically taste the irony.

However, he doesn’t have long to dwell on this thought. “Wait a minute, how have none of you grabbed the gauntlet and put it on?” The orc woman asks. The boys reply in their typical flippant way that would make him smile if… wow, these body metaphors have got to stop. But despite their tongue-in-cheek mannerisms (goddammit), she looks genuinely impressed. And then – no. Nonononono. 

“I think… I think we could use people like you,” She says.

He resists the urge to scream. It’s true that the boys need answers, but this, this just made things significantly more difficult. Taako grabs the gauntlet from the charred form of Gundren Rockseeker and puts in his bag. Magnus unties the woman and gives her back her crossbow. She fidgets with her bracer, and a few minutes later, a glass sphere appears from the sky. The four of them step in, a balloon pops out of the sphere, and soon enough the boys are flying away from Barry and to that damn moon.

As soon as the sphere disappears into the night sky, he lets out a guttural screech that something human-sized shouldn't be able to produce, then is wreathed in flames. When they disappear, he is a few miles outside of Phandalin in a cave. Now that his rage is gone, he sighs, drifts to a green pod, and presses a few buttons on it. With that done, he goes to the center of the cave and lies down. Even though he doesn’t have a physical body anymore, he feels as if he’s going to need all the energy he can get. Things are about to become a lot more interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a couple hours to get my ideas out of my head, so it's not especially polished and there may be some inaccuracies. I did relisten to parts of episodes six (when this fic takes place) and fifty-seven, but if there are any inconsistencies with canon, please tell me!


End file.
